Trauma is not a unitary phenomenon. It expresses in many different symptom constellations dependent on age of exposure, number of events, environmental, genetic and epigenetic factors. “Simple” PTSD requires that an individual have an experience involving an actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. The central risk factor for developing PTSD is intensity and frequency of exposure to traumatic material. Extensive research has observed a dose dependent response between trauma severity and PTSD (Yehuda & Halligan, 2000). Exposure to multiple traumas in childhood has been frequently reported among veterans, victims of war, childhood abuse, domestic violence, and witness to or targets of genocide who present for mental health treatment(Kessler, 2000). Bessel van der Kolk proposed that interpersonal traumas such as psychological maltreatment, neglect, separation from caregivers, and traumatic loss, do not meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD but result in PTSD symptoms and self-regulatory impairments. He has argued for a new diagnostic category, Developmental Trauma Disorder, which defines traumatic events more broadly. This diagnostic category would be dependent on experiences such as abandonment, betrayal, physical or sexual assaults or witnessing domestic violence that engender intense affect such as rage, betrayal, fear, resignation, defeat and shame (van der Kolk, 2009).Sustained exposure to trauma in the childhood years has been proposed by Cloitre and colleagues to result in “Complex” PTSD that includes not only PTSD symptoms but also disorders in self-regulatory capacities that include anxious arousal, anger management, dissociative symptoms, and aggressive or socially avoidant behaviors (Cloitre et al., 2009).

Infraslow Neurofeedback can help with both simple and complex forms of trauma by addressing central nervous system (CNS) functioning. It’s profoundly relaxing effect positively impacts clients suffering with anxious arousal by relaxing the CNS and thereby helping to restore self-regulatory capacities.